Author's Note: Hey there, guys! I'm back pretty soon for once. As promised Book 1 of the Pete's World series has been released. The series is called The New Defenders and the fic is called The Novices Arrive. I'm going for a break for a while (school trip) so you might not see an update till around the end of the month. Sorry about that. So enjoy, and don't forget to review!

"NO! That's impossible! You can't be here, you can't!"

Dalek after Dalek entered the room as the people in the room stood gaping, shell-shocked. A total of 24 Daleks entered. John stepped up in front of the group, even as the others tried to hold him back.

"Whatever argument you have is with me!" he said, spreading out his arms to protect his family. "Leave my family and friends alone."

A bright red Dalek came up to the front. "We've been ordered to capture the Tyler family and paralyse every other being that stands in our way. We are to bring you preferably alive."

But John had stopped listening at the start. "Daleks were ordered?! By whom? The Daleks I knew would never take orders from anyone, except perhaps the Supreme or Davros. And it is neither of them, is it?"

"Self-destruct in T-minus 3 minutes 45 seconds."

Adeola, Michael, and Albert stepped up in front. The Daleks made a sound much like a collective snicker.

"Step out of the way or you will be exterminated!"

To the Daleks' surprise John started to laugh. "Father-in-law, there's a reason why we have not been teleported. But you know, there's also a reason for why that doesn't matter. Because there's another way out. Because at this exact moment, the longest six months of my life have nearly ended. I suppose I can live with waiting for another month for my dream."

By this time, walking backwards inconspicuously, John had reached the console. He took the key he had been hiding in his pocket…

"I need to get something."

…and thrust it into a keyhole made specifically for it.

The Daleks stood in momentary confusion and the Tylers in momentary dread when nothing happened. Then the situation flipped as a sound started to emanate from the space around them, a sound that brought hope. "VWORP! VWORP!"

"My biggest skill has always been talking my way out."

"Stop them!" the Drone Officer Dalek shouted. But it was already too late. John's TARDIS had already started to whisk them off.

Rose started to laugh in relief. John loved that laugh, but…

"Don't laugh yet, dear. We're not out of the woods yet. This TARDIS can only travel in Space, not in Time. It still needed another week or so to get used to the Time Vortex. Now it's going to take another month. And we don't have enough energy to travel for long."

He looked at the other occupants, including his three friends, who were gawping at the scene around them. "Yes, it's bigger on the inside. Now quit gawping you four, and help me-"

He jumped in alarm. "Idiot!"

"Who?"

"Me!"

He ran to George, who was lying prone, blood still flowing out. "Help me get him to the hospital area!"

He ran into one of the corridors, Rose following him shouting "That's the way to the bed rooms!", only to find herself in the hospital. "The TARDIS changes its own architecture based on the occupants' needs. Didn't I tell you that before, during our classes? Now shush. Let the doctor attend his patient."

John came out three quarters of an hour later, his face down and unreadable, bringing George in a wheelchair. "How's he?!" Albert asked, concerned.

John looked up. "Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?"

"The good news."

"He'll live."

"And the bad news?"

"He won't live long. Too much blood has already flowed out and caused damage. I managed to get some blood back from the stores I had and fix him up, but the damage is permanent. I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. "

Albert nodded. "It's not your fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's-"

The TARDIS shuddered and the Cloister Bell rang.

"-theirs."

The new TARDIS could only take so much damage. John forced her to land at the safest place she could find, just as the Torchwood Compound blew up. The blast was contained by a shield around the compound, but John suspected some radiation would nevertheless leak out. He looked out to see the situation outside. It was a bay. A bay he knew all too well.

He motioned the others to get out and supported George on his shoulder. By this time George had at least partially regained consciousness. "W-What's going on?" he asked groggily.

John jumped out of his skin, nearly dropping George in surprise. "Uh…" He tried to come up with an explanation that was plausible to George. He decided to not use his brain too much. "I healed you as much as I could, in a bigger on the inside spaceship and we are on the run from Cybermen and upturned alien pepper pots that are one of the most dangerous creatures in the multiverse."

George chuckled.

"What?" John asked.

"Wouldn't be the strangest thing I've heard in this long life. And probably not many more things are going to come, are they? I'm going to die soon."

It was more of a statement than a question. No point lying then…

John nodded.

"Well, maybe I just would like to die quicker. Here they come."

Daleks started to come from the entrance close by, pouring in slowly, starting to surround them. There numbers were drastically lowered, only 7 were left. But seven were enough.

"Let the army guys handle this, eh, boy. Soldiers, Strategist's Defence."

Strategist's Defence was a formation, much like an arrow, one person pointing front, two back. Except this seemed to be the exact opposite. John frowned, but gave no comment. George tried to get up, but collapsed at the pressure. "The end is near. I can't take any more stress."

Albert looked back at his friend. "Well, then there's no turning back."

They opened fire. John knew, or at least thought, it would make no difference. Except that the people who he had known for six months weren't the people who he thought they were. They managed to destroy three Daleks before the Daleks even closed in. They might have even managed to destroy all of them. Might have, except that Jackie's son chose this exact moment to be a hero like his brother-in-law. He was young, but full of zeal, and he ran straight at the Dalek.

The Drone Officer shot a paralyser before Tony could cover half the distance. "Perhaps we can kill this small human. The Patron shouldn't say anything." The Drone Officer pointed his gunstick at Tony. "You shall die now, human." John ran to jump in between to take the shot. But he was too late. Too slow.

But George wasn't. He somehow moved faster than possible and took the shot in his midsection, but kept standing. "Not a hand on them. Lay a hand on them and the Daleks will not live to see another day."

John started to approach George; the Daleks apparently not noticing him, all their attention on George. "George!" he called out.

"Stay back!" was the shout he got in reply. "Don't come a step nearer."

"How do you know the Daleks? It's important for me to know. The fate of this universe might depend on it."

"I'm sorry Theta" he said, pulling off a key hanging on his neck, glowing with a golden light. "I'm so, so sorry."

The light seemed to disappear as he looked at the Daleks. "Look at this Daleks. You are unlikely to see anything like this again. Send it to your memory banks."

"Duck!" John shouted, just in time.

George started to spin on one foot as his whole body blew up in a blast of golden energy, decapitating all four Daleks at once. He stopped spinning but continued regenerating, almost outshining the evening sun.

John's look turned hard as his closest friend turned into a stranger.

"Timelord…" John said in an accusatory tone, but as he realised it could probably only be one, his tone softened. "So what's it this time, Doctor? Looks like it's a big reunion, seeing as you've brought along Jack, Mickey, and Martha. Nice to see you three after such a long time. And that's not sarcasm."

George's face fell even more. "I'm not the Doctor."

John took a step back in shock. "W-What? What did you say?" He whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver and started a scan. The results simply confirmed what George had said.

John lunged at George, even as his family tried to pull him back. "A 100 years, he sat tortured, thinking he was alone. And I can feel that right now! A long century, you bastard! You couldn't even contact him! Probably longer now."

John slowly started to recover from this outburst.

"There's only two reasons I'm forgiving you for now. One: We owe you. Two: You know the Doctor somehow, and so, you know me. We'd have to be pretty close friends for you to remember my Academy name. But if I guess, and I'm usually correct, you can't tell me yours. Am I right?"

"Yes but-"

"Thought so." John paused to look into the distance trying his best to calm himself down completely.

"I think I can guess why you're here too. The Doctor's in trouble, isn't he?"

George nodded, his head still down.

"So take us there then, your TARDIS. You must have one. Very few ships can survive the transit through a CVE. Or am I wrong, and that's not how you came here? That's one of the only ways the Doctor had to leave open."

"Theta, I-"

"Don't try and apologise, George. Not when I'm a hothead. I might do something."

George, for once, did not try to argue his way out, and started to lead the group to his TARDIS, and out of Dårlig Ulv-Stranden.

"Enough has happened outside my control" he muttered. "Too long, I've stayed my hand. No more. No more…"